Numbers 21:4-9, Philippians 2:6-11, Ps. 77:1-2, 34-38, John 3:13-17

When you enter through the North door the ground falling away before you as you face the nave. The descent to the sanctuary is more than symbolic. To the right of the sanctuary a life size crucifix stands almost like a sentinel; to the left is a relic of the True Cross. Space and spirit synthesise here – in Holy Cross Abbey – in County Tipperary. 

The south side of the altar bears the inscription – a half line in Latin taken from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians – ut crux Christi non evacuetur – ‘that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power’ (1Cor 1:17). This could also be translated as, ‘that the cross of Christ may not be emptied of its might’. Paul professes that the power/might referred to here is ‘to proclaim the gospel’ and he adds, as is his wont, ‘not with eloquent wisdom’.

Today’s second reading –from Paul to the Philippians – sets forth the fundamental Christological format that the Church will follow and unfold in its doctrine, Christ being both divine and human. From his ‘equality with God’ Jesus Christ empties himself, foregoing his divine status, firstly in being human ‘as all men [and women] are’, and finally ‘even to accepting death, death on a cross’. The addition of the adverb ‘even’ is eloquent, expressing equality with humanity and experiencing existential emptiness in the historical horizon of death.

However, as Paul confesses and the Gospel of John clarifies, the crux of the matter (in today’s parlance) is literally the ‘cross’. For both Paul and John this is the crux gloriae, the cross of glory through which ‘God the Father’ is praised and His saving love is poured out for the world.

The mystery of faith means that God’s might is manifested in weakness, God’s word is spoken in the silence of suffering, God’s eternal life given in the emptying of Christ ending in his death. As Easter is celebrated (in the northern hemisphere) in Springtime, the Exaltation of the Cross is celebrated in Autumn, the season of harvest time when the goods of the earth are gathered after growth. The cycle of sowing and reaping, the process of the seed that Jesus spoke of, ‘if it dies, it bears much fruit’ (Jn 12;24), is complete. This is the hour when God’s hands, the Son and Holy Spirit (Saint Irenaeus), gather us into the heavenly harvest and banquet, when we can hope in the words of Saint Clement of Alexandria:

Bound to the wood of a cross, thou art free from all danger of destruction. God’s Logos will steer thy ship and the Holy Pneuma or the Holy Spirit will give thee a safe return to heaven’s harbour.[1]

Fr Kevin O’Gorman SMA

[1] Quoted in Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action.